By Chris Caldwell
THE conclusion of Dennis Lafferty’s fight trilogy with Neil Rawlinson ended in pain and defeat for the Ballindrait man on Saturday night.
Having defeated the Liverpudlian to claim the GCO International title in July 2023, Lafferty travelled back to the Scouser’s home city 12 months later to defend his belt.
But that bout was changed from a five two-minute round encounter to a four three-minute rounder, which suited his more experienced ex-pro, who edged a split decision, which Lafferty felt he won.
Fast forward another nine months and the pair met in the ring once more, two months later than previously arranged and back in Liverpool rather than Derry after that bout fell by the wayside.
And as well as the venue having changed, so too did the weight division and the size of the gloves involved as the pair went toe-to-toe for the WCU International and Five Nations belts up a weight at 65kgs, which suited the much taller Rawlinson, and with four ounce gloves, which played a massive part in the injuries sustained by Lafferty during the five rounds, which ended 20 seconds before the final bell when his corner threw in the towel.
By then, the former GCO super-lightweight, World, European, International and Five Nations title holder had broken his hand and was in considerable back pain.
And while disappointed to have once again lost to Rawlinson, Lafferty admits he’s learned an important lesson – to never fight with four ounce gloves ever again!
“There’s definitely something not right, the middle of my back seized up a bit,” he explained. “I hurt it in the third round when I was blocking. He caught me on the wrist and it was niggling from there and then he caught me a few more and in the fourth round the pain travelled up my back to the middle of the shoulder-blade and it’s still sore.
“My hand has swollen up like a balloon and my thumb’s swollen too. It’s not good!
“The four ounce gloves don’t suit me, so that’s the first and the last time because there is far too much clinching. I wouldn’t be keen on that. It couldn’t have gone any worse and I don’t think there’s any sport in those wee gloves. You can’t block and that’s one of the things I’m best at, but I couldn’t use it.
“He was pinging me on the wrists, I thought they were going to snap, it was the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced.”
Prior to the fight, there were thoughts that Lafferty might hang up the gloves all together, but the 34 year-old father of three, who fights out of Strabane’s Kickfit Gym, is hoping to be back in action, with ten ounce gloves, back in Liverpool in July.
“There’s a prizefighter event over there (in Liverpool) in July, which I think I’m getting a slot on, so that would be two fights in the one day – a five rounder and then the final which has £1500 in prizemoney, so it would be worth doing some good training for,” he explained.
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